Ostia
Ostia (オスティア Osutia, Ositia in PAL region versions) is the largest and most prominent march of Lycia. Because of this, Ostia and its marquess are the traditional leaders of the Lycian League as a whole. Military Boasting the largest standing force in Lycia, Ostia is particularly famous for its excellent Knights and Generals. Ironically, despite Ostia's association with Knights, a slow, powerful, and honorable class, the more recent Marquesses of Ostia, Uther and Hector, have utilized thieves, a fast, fragile, and dishonest class, as spies, such as Leila, Matthew, and Astolfo. Culture and Politics For generations, Ostia dedicated itself to a militaristic structure, with Nobles and commoners alike shunning extravagance, serving as the dominant ideology of the land. This reflects in its architecture as well, as Castle Ostia had long held a reputation of an impregnable fortress. Ostia also became renowned as a center of education among the country, with the nobility of Lycia's other houses frequently coming to Ostia to study in their youth. History In the era of The Scouring, Ostia was a humble village and the birthplace and home of the warrior Roland, who went on to become one of the Eight Legends and the wielder of the Blazing Blade Durandal. At the Scouring's conclusion, Roland returned to Ostia and used Durandal's power to restore life to the ravaged land. From the town, Roland founded the modern state of Ostia and Lycia as a whole, reigning as the first Marquess Ostia. The Blazing Blade During the events of The Blazing Blade, Ostia had sent spies to investigate matters troubling them, Leila to uncover the enigmatic Black Fang and their recent activities, and Matthew to deliver an intelligence report on Lundgren and the state of the Caelin throne. During this time, Matthew and the cleric Serra were conscripted into Lyn's group, Lyn unaware of Matthew's true motives, and aided her in regaining the Caelin throne. During this time, Matthew and Serra encountered Hector, waiting for Eliwood for one of their yearly spars, and Matthew delivered his report on Lundgren, ensuring Ostia's neutrality in the affairs of the Caelin throne despite Matthew's continued involvement in Lyn's group, and Hector hiding from Serra as her verbiage was his greatest displeasure. A year later, Castle Ostia suffered a minor security breach when Hector attempted to sneak out of the castle to aid his friend Eliwood, and was confronted by Black Fang assassins and their leader, the knight Wire. Hector and Matthew quickly disposed of the assassins and rushed to the aid of Eliwood. Soon after reuniting with Eliwood and reclaiming Caelin after taking the territory Laus before it could mount its attack on Ostia, Eliwood, Hector, and their group recaptured Castle Caelin after Darin besieged it to create a temporary base for Laus's soldiers. Soon after the throne was retaken, Leila was reunited with Hector and Matthew, reporting the Black Fang's recent actions and Nergal and his morphs and also speaking with Matthew briefly before returning to the Black Fang. Later, long after unraveling and defeating the majority of Nergal's morphs and the Four Fangs, as well as a large amount of Black Fang elites, Hector and the group returned to Castle Ostia to recuperate. A newly revived Nergal mounted his forces then and created a hole in Castle Ostia's defenses, allowing Denning and a large amount of morphs to siege the castle. Hector and Eliwood valiantly fought and repelled the soldiers, killing Denning in the battle. Finally, after the death of Nergal and his newly resurrected Fire Dragon, Hector and the group returned to Lycia, where Hector attended Eliwood's coronation as Marquess of Pherae, and Eliwood, in return, attended Hector's as Marquess of Ostia. Additionaly, House Caelin was entrusted to Ostia after Lyn's grandfather died. The Binding Blade During the events of The Binding Blade, after the death of its Marquess Lord Hector, a faction of Ostia's soldiers, lead by General Leygance, one of Hector's advisors, had started a rebellion with Lieutenant Devias, in an attempt to sell Ostia to Bern. Hector's daughter Lilina was then captured by Leygance and taken hostage, imprisoned in the cells of Castle Ostia. Leygance's original plan was to hold her to bargain with the Ilian mercenary knights. However, when Roy's army arrives, join forces with the Ilian knights, and break into the castle, after fighting a fierce battle against Devias in the outer area, he decides to kill her in secret during the battle and blame it on Roy's troops, however this plan fails and Lilina is rescued by Roy's army. Some time afterwards, a group of Bern Dragon Knights, lead by General Narcian, attempted to seize castle Ostia for themselves, but are forced to retreat by an Etrurian army, led by General Percival and General Cecilia, who came at Roy's request. From this point onward Ostia remains under Etrurian protection until the end of the war. Notable Characters from Ostia Royalty *Roland - One of the Eight Heroes, founded Ostia after the Scouring and became its first Marquess. *Uther - Hector's brother and Marquess of Ostia during The Blazing Blade until he died of illness. *Hector - The brother of the Marquess of Ostia who prefers action to court formality. Father of Lilina and Marquess of Ostia after the events of The Blazing Blade until his death during the Bern invasion of Lycia in The Binding Blade. *Lilina - A Ostian noble with a natural gift for magic and Roy's friend since childhood. Hector's daughter. Others *Oswin - One of Ostia's strongest knights, ordered by Uther to serve Hector. *Leila - A member of the Black Fang group of assassins whose true loyalties lie with Ostia, which she serves as a spy and skilled infiltrator. *Matthew - A cheery thief serving Hector who's actually quite sly. *Serra - A talkative and egotistical cleric serving Ostia. Once traveled with Erk *Bors - A dutiful knight in service to Ostia, ordered by Lilina to serve Roy. *Gwendolyn - An Armored knight of Ostia and younger sister of Bors who's intent on mastering defense, despite feeling awkward in armor. *Barthe - A knight who constantly focuses on growing stronger and keeping Ostia as safe as possible. *Astolfo - A roguish Ostian spy who is loyal to Hector. *Devias - A knight who rebels against the throne, seeking to hand Ostia over to Bern without a fight. *Leygance - Leader of the Ostian rebellion. *Georg - An ancient warrior from the Scouring whose spirit continues to guard Durandal a millennium after his death Etymology Ostia is a large archeological site that was the harbor city of ancient Rome, which is approximately 30 kilometers (20 miles) northeast of the site. "Ostia" in Latin means "mouth". At the mouth of the River Tiber, Ostia was Rome's seaport, but, due to silting and a drop in sea level, the site now lies 3 kilometers (2 miles) from the sea. The site is noted for the excellent preservation of its ancient buildings and magnificent frescoes. Ostia is also a large neighborhood in the XIII Municipio of the comune of Rome, Italy. Ostia (also called Ostia Lido or Lido di Roma) is also the only municipio of Rome on the Tyrrhenian Sea and many Romans spend the summer holidays there. Ostia counts about 90,000 inhabitants. Gallery Ostia_Binding_Blade.png|The City of Ostia, as seen in Chapter 7 of The Binding Blade. Ostia_Blazing_Sword.PNG|The City of Ostia, as seen in Chapter 29xE/31xH of The Blazing Blade. Category:Locations